Thomas Percy (13 April 1729 – 30 September 1811) was Bishop of Dromore, County Down, Ireland. Before being made bishop, he was chaplain to George III. Percy's greatest contribution is considered to be his Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765), the first of the great ballad collections, which was the one work most responsible for the ballad revival in English poetry that was a significant part of the Romantic movement.

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He was born as Thomas Percy in Bridgnorth, the son of Arthur Lowe Percy a grocer and farmer at Shifnal who sent Thomas to Christ Church, Oxford in 1746 following an education firstly at Bridgnorth Grammar School followed by nearby Adams' Grammar School in local Newport. He graduated in 1750 and proceeded M.A. in 1753. In the latter year he was appointed to the vicarage of Easton Maudit, Northamptonshire, and three years later was instituted to the rectory of Wilby in the same county, benefices which he retained until 1782. In 1759 he married Anne, daughter of Barton Gutterridge.

Dr Percy's first work, 'Hao Kiou Choaan, or The Pleasing History', was published in 1761. This is a heavily revised and annotated version of a manuscript translation of the Haoqiu zhuan (好逑傳), and is the first full publication in English of a Chinese novel. The following year, he published a two-volume collection of sinological essays (mostly translations) entitled 'Miscellaneous Pieces Relating to the Chinese.' In 1763, he published Five Pieces of Runic Poetry, translated from the Icelandic. The same year, he also edited the Earl of Surrey's poems with an essay on early blank verse, translated the Song of Solomon, and published a key to the New Testament. His Northern Antiquities (1770) is a translation from the French of Paul Henri Mallet. His edition of the 'Household Book' of the Earl of Northumberland (1770) (The Regulations and Establishment of the Household of Henry Algernon Percy, the Fifth Earl of Northumberland, at his Castles of Wresill and Lekinfield in Yorkshire. Begun anno domini M.DXII) is of the greatest value for the illustrations of domestic life in England at that period.

These works are of little estimation when compared with the Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765). In the 1760s, he obtained a manuscript of ballads (the Percy Folio) from a source in Northumberland. He had in mind the idea of writing a history of the Percy family of the peerage (the Dukes of Northumberland), and he had sought materials of local interest. He had sought out old tales from near Alnwick, the ancestral home of the Northumberland Percy family, and he had come across many ballad tales.

In 1763, Percy, aiming for the market that Ossian had opened for "ancient poetry" (see James MacPherson), published Five Pieces of Runic Poetry from Icelandic, which he translated and "improved."

Percy was a friend of Samuel Johnson, Joseph and Thomas Warton, and James Boswell. In 1764, Dr Johnson and others encouraged Percy to preserve the poetry he was finding at home. Percy therefore took the ballad material he had from his folio and began searching for more ballads, in particular. He wanted to collect material from the border areas, near Scotland. In 1765, he published the Reliques to great success.

Still not having secured an adequate living, Thomas Percy continued with his project of commemorating the Alnwick area, and so he composed his own ballad poem on Warkworth Castle, then a ruin, which the Dukes of Northumberland controlled and which the Duchess of Northumberland favored for its sublime views. Combining the vogue for the "Churchyard Poets" and the ballad vogue that he himself had set in motion, Thomas Percy wrote The Hermit of Warkworth in 1771. Samuel Johnson famously composed three ex tempore parodies of this verse in the 1780s. When an admirer too often told Johnson of the beautiful "simplicity" of the ballad verse form, Johnson pointed out that the line between simplicity and simple mindedness is narrow: just remove the sense. He then demonstrated:

"The tender infant meek and mild

Fell down upon a stone;

The nurse took up the squealing child

But yet the child squeal'd on."

Thomas Percy was angered by the parody, but Hester Thrale says that he soon came to his senses and realized that Johnson was satirizing the form, and not the poem.

Soon after, he said,

"I put my hat upon my head

And went into the strand.

There I met another man

Whose hat was in his hand."

This extemporized parody was written down by Boswell and others. It may have been aimed less at Percy than at the ballads that were then appearing nearly daily on every subject.

The Reliques of Ancient English Poetry set the stage not only for Robert Burns, but also for Wordsworth and Coleridge'sLyrical Ballads.
The book is based on an old manuscript collection of poetry, which Percy claimed to have rescued in Humphrey Pitt's house at Shifnal, Shropshire, "from the hands of the housemaid who was about to light the fire with it." The manuscript was edited in its complete form by JW Hales and FJ Furnivall in 1867-1868. This manuscript provides the core of the work but many other ballads were found and included, some by Percy's friends Johnson, William Shenstone, Thomas Warton, and some from a similar collection made by Samuel Pepys.

Percy "improved" 35 of the 46 ballads he took from the Folio. In the case of The Beggar's daughter of Bednal Green (Bethnal Green), he added the historical character of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Evesham. In this version the ballad became so popular that it was used in two plays, an anonymous novel, operas by Thomas Arne and Geoffrey Bush, and Carl Loewe's ballad "Der Bettlers Tochter von Bednall Green". A fuller account of the history of the ballad can be found in "The Green" by A. J. Robinson and D. H. B. Chesshyre.

1.
Ballad
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A ballad /ˈbæləd/ is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French chanson balladée or ballade, which were originally danced songs, Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of the British Isles from the later medieval period until the 19th century. They were widely used across Europe, and later in the Americas, Australia, Ballads are 13 lines with an ABABBCBC form, consisting of couplets of rhymed verse, each of 14 syllables. Many ballads were written and sold as single sheet broadsides, the form was often used by poets and composers from the 18th century onwards to produce lyrical ballads. In the later 19th century, the took on the meaning of a slow form of popular love song and is now often used for any love song. The ballad derives its name from medieval French dance songs or ballares, from which ballet is also derived, as a narrative song, their theme and function may originate from Scandinavian and Germanic traditions of storytelling that can be seen in poems such as Beowulf. Musically they were influenced by the Minnesinger, the earliest example of a recognizable ballad in form in England is Judas in a 13th-century manuscript. This means that the two words, ballad and ballet, are derived from the French language. Ballads were originally written to accompany dances, and so were composed in couplets with refrains in alternate lines and these refrains would have been sung by the dancers in time with the dance. Most northern and west European ballads are written in ballad stanzas or quatrains of alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, known as ballad meter. Usually, only the second and fourth line of a quatrain are rhymed, there is considerable variation on this pattern in almost every respect, including length, number of lines and rhyming scheme, making the strict definition of a ballad extremely difficult. Ballads usually use the dialect of the people and are heavily influenced by the region in which they originate. Scottish ballads in particular are distinctively un-English, even showing some pre-Christian influences in the inclusion of elements such as the fairies in the Scottish ballad Tam Lin. The ballads do not have any known author or correct version, instead, having passed down mainly by oral tradition since the Middle Ages. The ballads remained a tradition until the increased interest in folk songs in the 18th century led collectors such as Bishop Thomas Percy to publish volumes of popular ballads. In all traditions most ballads are narrative in nature, with a story, often concise, and rely on imagery, rather than description. Themes concerning rural laborers and their sexuality are common, and there are many ballads based on the Robin Hood legend. Another common feature of ballads is repetition, sometimes of fourth lines in succeeding stanzas, as a refrain, sometimes of third and fourth lines of a stanza and sometimes of entire stanzas

2.
Poetry
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Poetry has a long history, dating back to the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh. Early poems evolved from folk songs such as the Chinese Shijing, or from a need to retell oral epics, as with the Sanskrit Vedas, Zoroastrian Gathas, and the Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Ancient attempts to define poetry, such as Aristotles Poetics, focused on the uses of speech in rhetoric, drama, song and comedy. Later attempts concentrated on such as repetition, verse form and rhyme. From the mid-20th century, poetry has sometimes been more generally regarded as a creative act employing language. Poetry uses forms and conventions to suggest differential interpretation to words, devices such as assonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia and rhythm are sometimes used to achieve musical or incantatory effects. The use of ambiguity, symbolism, irony and other elements of poetic diction often leaves a poem open to multiple interpretations. Similarly figures of such as metaphor, simile and metonymy create a resonance between otherwise disparate images—a layering of meanings, forming connections previously not perceived. Kindred forms of resonance may exist, between verses, in their patterns of rhyme or rhythm. Some poetry types are specific to cultures and genres and respond to characteristics of the language in which the poet writes. Much modern poetry reflects a critique of poetic tradition, playing with and testing, among other things, in todays increasingly globalized world, poets often adapt forms, styles and techniques from diverse cultures and languages. Some scholars believe that the art of poetry may predate literacy, others, however, suggest that poetry did not necessarily predate writing. The oldest surviving poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh, comes from the 3rd millennium BCE in Sumer. An example of Egyptian epic poetry is The Story of Sinuhe, other forms of poetry developed directly from folk songs. The earliest entries in the oldest extant collection of Chinese poetry, the efforts of ancient thinkers to determine what makes poetry distinctive as a form, and what distinguishes good poetry from bad, resulted in poetics—the study of the aesthetics of poetry. Some ancient societies, such as Chinas through her Shijing, developed canons of poetic works that had ritual as well as aesthetic importance, Classical thinkers employed classification as a way to define and assess the quality of poetry. Later aestheticians identified three major genres, epic poetry, lyric poetry, and dramatic poetry, treating comedy and tragedy as subgenres of dramatic poetry, Aristotles work was influential throughout the Middle East during the Islamic Golden Age, as well as in Europe during the Renaissance. English Romantic poet John Keats termed this escape from logic Negative Capability and this romantic approach views form as a key element of successful poetry because form is abstract and distinct from the underlying notional logic

3.
Romanticism
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Romanticism was characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism as well as glorification of all the past and nature, preferring the medieval rather than the classical. It was embodied most strongly in the arts, music, and literature, but had a major impact on historiography, education. It elevated folk art and ancient custom to something noble, Romanticism assigned a high value to the achievements of heroic individualists and artists, whose examples, it maintained, would raise the quality of society. It also promoted the individual imagination as a critical authority allowed of freedom from classical notions of form in art, there was a strong recourse to historical and natural inevitability, a Zeitgeist, in the representation of its ideas. In the second half of the 19th century, Realism was offered as a polar opposite to Romanticism, the decline of Romanticism during this time was associated with multiple processes, including social and political changes and the spread of nationalism. Defining the nature of Romanticism may be approached from the point of the primary importance of the free expression of the feelings of the artist. The importance the Romantics placed on emotion is summed up in the remark of the German painter Caspar David Friedrich that the feeling is his law. Samuel Taylor Coleridge and others believed there were laws that the imagination—at least of a good creative artist—would unconsciously follow through artistic inspiration if left alone. As well as rules, the influence of models from other works was considered to impede the creators own imagination, so that originality was essential. The concept of the genius, or artist who was able to produce his own work through this process of creation from nothingness, is key to Romanticism. This idea is called romantic originality. Not essential to Romanticism, but so widespread as to be normative, was a strong belief, however, this is particularly in the effect of nature upon the artist when he is surrounded by it, preferably alone. Romantic art addressed its audiences with what was intended to be felt as the voice of the artist. So, in literature, much of romantic poetry invited the reader to identify the protagonists with the poets themselves. In both French and German the closeness of the adjective to roman, meaning the new literary form of the novel, had some effect on the sense of the word in those languages. It is only from the 1820s that Romanticism certainly knew itself by its name, the period typically called Romantic varies greatly between different countries and different artistic media or areas of thought. Margaret Drabble described it in literature as taking place roughly between 1770 and 1848, and few dates much earlier than 1770 will be found. In English literature, M. H. Abrams placed it between 1789, or 1798, this latter a very typical view, and about 1830, however, in most fields the Romantic Period is said to be over by about 1850, or earlier

4.
Bridgnorth
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Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England. The Severn Valley splits it into a High Town and Low Town, the town on the right bank. The population at the 2011 Census was 12,079, Bridgnorth is named after a bridge over the River Severn, that was built further north than an earlier bridge at Quatford. Earliest names for Bridgnorth include Brigge, Brug and Bruges, all referring to its position on the Severn, after the Norman conquest, William I granted the manor of Bridgnorth to Roger de Montgomerie. The town became a borough on Robert Bellêmes attainder in 1102. The castles purpose was to defend against attacks from Wales, the town was attacked and burnt by Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March during the Despenser War in 1322. Bridgnorths town walls were constructed in timber between 1216 and 1223, murage grants allowed them to be upgraded to stone between the 13th and 15th centuries. By the 16th century, the antiquarian John Leland reported them in ruins and of the five gates and it is probable that Henry I granted the burgesses certain privileges, for Henry II confirmed to them all the franchises and customs which they had in the time of Henry I. These early charters were confirmed by several succeeding kings, Henry VI granting in addition Assize of Bread and Ale, the town was disfranchised in 1885. More than 255 men from the Bridgnorth area volunteered in the first months of the First World War and their names were published in the Bridgnorth Journal on 26 December 1914 and several of those killed in action are remembered on the war memorial situated in the castle grounds. Until 1961 the Royal Air Forces initial recruit training unit was at RAF Bridgnorth, during the Second World War, two women were killed during a German air raid in August 1940 when bombs hit neighbouring houses in High Town. In 2005, unverified German papers dating from 1941 were found, outlining new details about Operation Sea Lion, two quiet Shropshire towns were mentioned in the documentation—Ludlow and Bridgnorth. On 21 August 2003 Bridgnorth was granted Fairtrade Town status, Bridgnorth is home to a funicular railway that links the high and low towns, the Castle Hill Railway, which is the steepest and only inland railway of its type in England. Additionally, within the High Town is Bridgnorth railway station on the Severn Valley Railway, the ruins of Bridgnorth Castle, built in 1101, are present in the town. Due to damage caused during the English Civil War, the castle is inclined at an angle of 15 degrees, High Town is dominated by two Church of England churches. St. Marys Church, a built in the classic style of the late 18th century, was designed by Thomas Telford. St. Leonards was formerly collegiate, and Bridgnorth was a Royal Peculiar until 1856 and it was subsequently largely rebuilt but is no longer used for regular worship. It has many community uses and is in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust, Bishop Percys House on the Cartway was built in 1580 by Richard Forster and has been a Grade 1 listed building since 18 July 1949

5.
Christ Church, Oxford
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Christ Church is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college is associated with Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, which serves as the college chapel and it is the second wealthiest Oxford college by financial endowment with an endowment of £436m as of 2015. Christ Church has produced thirteen British prime ministers, more than any other Oxbridge college, the college was the setting for parts of Evelyn Waughs Brideshead Revisited, as well as a small part of Lewis Carrolls Alices Adventures in Wonderland. More recently it has used in the filming of the movies of J. K. Rowlings Harry Potter series. Distinctive features of the architecture have been used as models by a number of other academic institutions, including the National University of Ireland, Galway. The University of Chicago and Cornell University both have reproductions of Christ Churchs dining hall, christChurch Cathedral in New Zealand, after which the City of Christchurch is named, is itself named after Christ Church, Oxford. Stained glass windows in the cathedral and other buildings are by the Pre-Raphaelite William Morris group with designs by Edward Burne-Jones, Christ Church is also partly responsible for the creation of University College Reading, which later gained its own Royal Charter and became the University of Reading. The first female undergraduates matriculated at Christ Church in 1980 and he planned the establishment on a magnificent scale, but fell from grace in 1529, with the buildings only three-quarters complete, as they were to remain for 140 years. In 1531 the college was suppressed, but it was refounded in 1532 as King Henry VIIIs College by Henry VIII. Since the time of Queen Elizabeth I the college has also associated with Westminster School. The dean remains to this day an ex member of the schools governing body. Major additions have made to the buildings through the centuries. To this day the bell in the tower, Great Tom, is rung 101 times at 9 pm at the former Oxford time every night, in former times this was done at midnight, signalling the close of all college gates throughout Oxford. Since it took 20 minutes to ring the 101, Christ Church gates, unlike those of other colleges, when the ringing was moved back to 9,00 pm, Christ Church gates still remained open until 12.20,20 minutes later than any other college. Although the clock itself now shows GMT/BST, Christ Church still follows Oxford time in the timings of services in the cathedral, King Charles I made the Deanery his palace and held his Parliament in the Great Hall during the English Civil War. In the evening of 29 May 1645, during the siege of Oxford. During the Commonwealth, John Owen attained considerable eminence, the Visitor of Christ Church is the reigning British sovereign, and the Bishop of Oxford is unique among English bishops in not being the Visitor of his own cathedral. The head of the college is the Dean of Christ Church, There are a senior and a junior censor the former of whom is responsible for academic matters, the latter for undergraduate discipline

6.
Bridgnorth Endowed School
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Bridgnorth Endowed School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in the market town of Bridgnorth in the rural county of Shropshire, England. Founded in 1503, The Endowed School is a school and is a specialist Technology College. The age range of the School is 11–18 years and it was previously known as the Bridgnorth Grammar School, and the school celebrated the 500th anniversary of its foundation in 2003. Former pupils include Professor Peter Bullock, the inspirational soil scientist who was a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Bridgnorth Endowed School was founded in 1503, in the reign of Henry VII, established as a common school by the Corporation of the Borough of Bridgnorth. The revenues of the Chantries of St Leonards Church were originally used to support the school, a barn, which had been used as the chapel of St John the Baptist, first housed the school. This stood on the side of St Leonards churchyard outside St Leonards Church. By the end of the century the former chapel of St John the Baptist was being described as the old school-house. Indeed, Sir John Hayward in his will of 1635 refers to the School as having been founded by his father, Sir Rowland. In 1785, during the reign of George III, the Old Grammar School was renovated with gifts of each given by the towns Members of Parliament, Major Whitmore. The Old Grammar School building still stands in St Leonards Close and is occupied by a firm of accountants. Sir William Whitmores building still stands in St Leonards Close and it has been converted into three private town houses with Grade II* listed status. These Careswell Exhibitions were first awarded in 1746, during the reign of George II, for 160 years Bridgnorth shared in the resulting close connexion between Shropshire and Christ Church, Oxford, until in 1905 the Exhibitions became tenable elsewhere. In 1635, for instance, the School contained only six boys, the reason for the long Headmasterships of Rev. Richard Cornes from 1677 to 1726 and of Rev. Hugh Stackhouse from 1726 to 1743 was that they were both also incumbents of St Marys Church, after 1766 no Usher was appointed, but the emoluments could not now support even a single master unless he could attract boarders to the School. Under Dr Rowleys leadership the Schools reputation increased, Dr Rowleys success as a teacher of the Classics soon attracted boarders from far and near. His pupils included not only Bridgnorth boys, but also those from further afield, the numbers rose to about 150. The East Window of the St Leonards Church was replaced in memory of Dr Rowley, Dr Rowleys successors after 1850 had not his ability, and accordingly the Schools numbers and reputation, and their own emoluments, declined. Unsuccessful attempts were made to some of the funds of the Careswell trust for the improvement of the Schools buildings

7.
Adams' Grammar School
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Adams Grammar School is a British selective boys grammar school in Newport, Shropshire, offering day and boarding education. It was founded in 1656 by William Adams, a member of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers. Adams was founded in 1656 by Alderman William Adams, a wealthy City of London merchant and haberdasher, only seven of these 1,400 books are still in the schools ownership, with the rest having been sold at various times when the school has suffered financial hardship. Adams developed slowly, and did not expand beyond its original building, now known as Big School, in the 1960s a new science block, connected to Main School was built, whilst a senior boarding masters house was created on land adjacent to Big School. During this period the school acquired a new gymnasium, which was subsequently converted into a theatre in the mid-2000s. In 2002 a history of the school by former headmaster David Taylor, the late 2000s saw the school celebrate its 350th anniversary, completion of a new science block and conversion of the former gymnasium into a performing arts centre. During World War I,362 Old Novaportans served in the Armed Forces of whom 45 died and 77 survived wounded. After the War a memorial fund was set up to assist the sons of alumni, whose appeal raised £1,000, in 1948 the Old Boys Club erected another tablet alongside this to those who died in World War II. Both memorials are now displayed in the School Library, under the headmastership of the Revd Samuel Lea, the school survived turning down the services of Dr Samuel Johnson, who was later to be the pre-eminent scholar of the 18th century. Adams is a state school which admits both boarding and day pupils, with ever increasing numbers of foreign students, especially from Hong Kong. Adams is a specialist Technology College as well as a Language College, the school, including the sixth form, has approximately 800 pupils, all of whom wear a common uniform, with the exception of sixth formers who wear a navy blue, as opposed to maroon blazer. It is however, of essentially the design, with the exception of the addition of gold blazer buttons in the place of plastic maroon ones. Adams Grammar School regularly places in the top 50 schools throughout the country and top 20 state schools based on GCSE. The school has developed a reputation for consistently having a number of sixth formers gain access into the Russell Group and Golden Triangle universities, including Oxford. A high proportion of pupils go on to study highly competitive subjects including the Law, Dentistry, Medicine. Adams was rated by Ofsted as a Grade 1 outstanding school during 2013, the current headmaster is Mr Gary Hickey. Darwin House, traditionally sports royal blue and is named after Shrewsbury-born Charles Darwin, throughout the academic year there are many house events, revolving around the Arts, sports or academic subjects. These include the House Music Competition, Dixon Cup, Smedley Cup, House 7s, House Netball, intra-house Geography and Languages competitions also take place

8.
Easton Maudit
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Easton Maudit is a small village and civil parish in rural Northamptonshire. It takes its name from the Maudit family who purchased the estate at what was then just Easton, there was no residential landowner in the village until 1578 when the village was acquired by Sir Christopher Yelverton. It is about 8 miles east of Northampton town centre, at the 2011 census the population remained less than 100 and is included in the civil parish of Bozeat. Thomas Percy was made the rector of the parish at the age of 24, he was a friend of Samuel Johnson, the church is dedicated to St Peter and St Paul. The church floor was designed by Lord Alwyne Compton, Bishop of Ely, Samuel Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, David Garrick and other members of the Garrick Club, were friends of the then rector and as well as staying in the village worshipped in the church. The chief monument is to Sir Christopher Yelverton, a Speaker of the House of Commons, yelvertons son Henry was Attorney-General to James I. The village once housed a manor house, the house was purchased by the Compton family from Castle Ashby and they had the house demolished. All that now remains is the plot of the house surrounded by Lebanon Cedars, derek Nimmo the actor lived in Easton Maudit and is buried in the village graveyard. Media related to Easton Maudit at Wikimedia Commons Website for the excavation of the Romano-British villa at Easton Maudit

9.
Northamptonshire
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Northamptonshire, archaically known as the County of Northampton, is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2011, it had a population of 629,000, the county is administered by Northamptonshire County Council and seven non-metropolitan district councils. Northamptonshire is the southernmost county in the East Midlands region, apart from the county town of Northampton, other large population centres include Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Rushden and Daventry. Northamptonshires county flower is the cowslip, there are two more possible hill-forts at Arbury Hill and Thenford. In the 1st century BC, most of what later became Northamptonshire became part of the territory of the Catuvellauni, a Belgic tribe, the Catuvellauni were in turn conquered by the Romans in 43 AD. The Roman road of Watling Street passed through the county, there were other Roman settlements at Northampton, Kettering and along the Nene Valley near Raunds. A large fort was built at Longthorpe, after the Romans left, the area eventually became part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, and Northampton functioned as an administrative centre. The Mercians converted to Christianity in 654 AD with the death of the pagan king Penda, Northamptonshire was conquered again in 940, this time by the Vikings of York, who devastated the area, only for the county to be retaken by the English in 942. Consequently, it is one of the few counties in England to have both Saxon and Danish town-names and settlements, the county was first recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, as Hamtunscire, the scire of Hamtun. The North was added to distinguish Northampton from the other important Hamtun further south, Rockingham Castle was built for William the Conqueror and was used as a Royal fortress until Elizabethan times. In 1460, during the Wars of the Roses, the Battle of Northampton took place, the now-ruined Fotheringhay Castle was used to imprison Mary, Queen of Scots, before her execution. George Washington, the first President of the United States of America, was born into the Washington family who had migrated to America from Northamptonshire in 1656. George Washingtons ancestor, Lawrence Washington, was Mayor of Northampton on several occasions and it was George Washingtons great-grandfather, John Washington, who emigrated in 1656 from Northants to Virginia. Before Washingtons ancestors moved to Sulgrave, they lived in Warton, King Charles I was imprisoned at Holdenby House in 1647. In 1823 Northamptonshire was said to a pure and wholesome air because of its dryness. Its livestock were celebrated, Horned cattle, and other animals, are fed to extraordinary sizes, in summer, the county hosted a great number of wealthy families. Country seats and villas are to be seen at every step, Northamptonshire is still referred to as the county of spires and squires because of the numbers of stately homes and ancient churches. In the 18th and 19th centuries, parts of Northamptonshire and the area became industrialised

10.
New Testament
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The New Testament is the second major part of the Christian biblical canon, the first part being the Old Testament, based on the Hebrew Bible. The New Testament discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christianity, Christians regard both the Old and New Testaments together as sacred scripture. The New Testament has frequently accompanied the spread of Christianity around the world and it reflects and serves as a source for Christian theology and morality. Both extended readings and phrases directly from the New Testament are also incorporated into the various Christian liturgies, the New Testament has influenced religious, philosophical, and political movements in Christendom and left an indelible mark on literature, art, and music. In almost all Christian traditions today, the New Testament consists of 27 books, John A. T. Robinson, Dan Wallace, and William F. Albright dated all the books of the New Testament before 70 AD. Others give a date of 80 AD, or at 96 AD. Over time, some disputed books, such as the Book of Revelation, other works earlier held to be Scripture, such as 1 Clement, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Diatessaron, were excluded from the New Testament. However, the canon of the New Testament, at least since Late Antiquity, has been almost universally recognized within Christianity. The term new testament, or new covenant first occurs in Jeremiah 31,31, the same Greek phrase for new covenant is found elsewhere in the New Testament. Modern English, like Latin, distinguishes testament and covenant as alternative translations, John Wycliffes 1395 version is a translation of the Latin Vulgate and so follows different terms in Jeremiah and Hebrews, Lo. Days shall come, saith the Lord, and I shall make a new covenant with the house of Israel, for he reproving him saith, Lo. Days come, saith the Lord, when I shall establish a new testament on the house of Israel, use of the term New Testament to describe a collection of first and second-century Christian Greek Scriptures can be traced back to Tertullian. In Against Marcion, written circa 208 AD, he writes of the Divine Word, by the 4th century, the existence—even if not the exact contents—of both an Old and New Testament had been established. Lactantius, a 3rd–4th century Christian author wrote in his early-4th-century Latin Institutiones Divinae and that which preceded the advent and passion of Christ—that is, the law and the prophets—is called the Old, but those things which were written after His resurrection are named the New Testament. The canon of the New Testament is the collection of books that most Christians regard as divinely inspired, several of these writings sought to extend, interpret, and apply apostolic teaching to meet the needs of Christians in a given locality. The book order is the same in the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, the Slavonic, Armenian and Ethiopian traditions have different New Testament book orders. Each of the four gospels in the New Testament narrates the life, death, the word gospel derives from the Old English gōd-spell, meaning good news or glad tidings. The gospel was considered the good news of the coming Kingdom of Messiah, and the redemption through the life and death of Jesus, Gospel is a calque of the Greek word εὐαγγέλιον, euangelion

Satirical political cartoon that appeared in Puck magazine, October 9, 1915. Caption "I did not raise my girl to be a voter" parodies the anti-World War I song "I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier". A chorus of disreputable men support a lone anti-suffrage woman.

Boswell's Edinburgh. In his journals he often mentions using the "Back Stairs" behind Parliament Close. His birthplace was the family's town house on the east side of the close, just around the corner at the top of the steps.